>>>4794079 Ukraine power cut 'was cyber-attack' - BBC News.
Blame Russia in 3,2,1….
Furious Calls Going Back and Forth From The Hill, State Department, Pentagon and White House After Trump Cancels Pelosi’s Flight
On Thursday afternoon, President Trump informed Speaker Pelosi her “public relations” trip to Afghanistan, Egypt, and Brussels has been postponed so that she can stay in DC and negotiate with him.
The President canceled Pelosi’s flight just one hour before she was scheduled to depart — Pelosi and other lawmakers were on the bus en route to the airport.
Trump told her to fly commercial on her own dime.
According to Fox News reporter, Chad Pergram, furious phone calls are flying back and forth from The Hill to the State to the Pentagon and White House.
CHAD PERGRAM: Members are sitting on the USAF bus on CapHill they wait to see if they are departing on overseas trip Trump canceled. Fox is told there are furious calls going back and forth now between the Hill, State, Pentagon and White House.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/furious-calls-going-back-and-forth-from-the-hill-state-department-pentagon-and-white-house-after-trump-cancels-pelosis-flight/
"It's A Reunion For People Who Broke The World": Author Explains Why Davos Should Be Cancelled
Paris is burning, a large chunk of the US federal government is shut down and Britain is careening toward a delay of Article 50 - or possibly a second referendum - as the Brexit process descends into chaos, calls for the World Economic Forum to cancel its annual conference in Davos, a notorious rendezvous for the world's financial and political elite, are growing louder. Particularly after Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and now Theresa May have all decided to skip the conference this year to attend to their respective crises.
While these demands from a frustrated public might seem baffling to the global elites who see Davos as an opportunity for less-fortunate emerging economies to "pitch" themselves in an effort to attract more FDI, one former New York Times columnist and the author of a new book that explores the causes of the surge in populism sweeping the Western world offered a surprisingly articulate and trenchant explanation for why people across the west are "mad as hell", and, furthermore, what role the average Davos attendee played in bringing our society to this point.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Anand Giridharadas placed the blame on plutocrats like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos for helping to "break the world" with ruthless corporate agendas that helped monopolize political power in the hands of the elite…leaving the rest of the population with deep-seated feelings of frustration as the usual avenues of social mobility have been closed, and people feel more powerless to change their future.
By building a product that has helped undermine the American Democratic process, Zuckerberg has helped steal the future from the average American, Giridharadas said.
"The story of our time is that the people who have monopolized progress and stolen the future from the people…are the change agents. Mark Zuckerberg, who is one of the great change agents of our time, has compromised American democracy…and has stolen the future…the financial industry…which caused the crisis…has rebranded itself with CSR…and little programs to empower some people here and empower some people here…Amazon another monopoly…"
His hosts interrupted him. Are you advocating anarchy, they asked?
"No", he replied. "'m advocating the restoration of Democracy in the US and elsewhere where you actually have leaders who reflect the aspirations of regular people."
And this can be accomplished, he said, if voters embrace populist policies and stop "believing the BS" propagated by the elites - BS like the notion that Silicon Valley tech firms are working "for the greater good" or that the financial services industry has somehow fundamentally reformed its behavior since the crisis, or that special interests don't exercise unfettered power over the political system.
"I think it ends when people stop believing the BS. Every age of savage unequal distribution has its own BS…if you watch Downton Abbey, there was a set of feudal beliefs that held the whole society together."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-17/its-reunion-people-who-broke-world-author-explains-why-davos-should-be-cancelled
State Department Orders Staff To Return To Work During Shutdown
The State Department is calling back employees to work, telling them they will be paid for at least one pay period, despite the ongoing government shutdown. In an urgent message sent to Civil and Foreign Service officers on Thursday, Bill Todd, the deputy undersecretary for management, told staffers that the department is “taking steps to make additional funds available to pay employee salaries."
“By taking these steps, the department expects to be able to resume most personnel operations and fund most salaries beginning with Pay Period 2,” Todd’s notice states. “As a result, all State Department direct-hire employees and State Department locally employed staff are expected to report to work on their first work day in Pay Period 2. For most employees, that will be January 22. For some overseas posts, where Sunday is the first day of the work week, that will be January 20.”
According to the notice, employees will be paid for the upcoming pay period, receiving paychecks on Feb. 14. Afterward, the department “will review balances and available legal authorities to try to cover future pay periods.” But employees will not be paid for work performed so far under the ongoing government shutdown until after appropriations bills are passed into law, the notice adds.
The department didn’t say where it was finding money to pay its employees. It cautioned that “bureaus and posts are expected to adhere to strict budget constraints with regard to new spending for contracts, travel, and other needs.”
According to Politico, the department justified the decision by stating, “As a national security agency, it is imperative that the Department of State carries out its mission. We are best positioned to do so with fully staffed embassies, consulates, and domestic offices."
As Bloomberg notes, while visa and passport services overseas that are funded by fees have remained open, many embassy staff members around the world have been on furlough - not working and not paid - along with hundreds of thousands of government workers affected by the shutdown in the U.S. In some cases, unpaid workers have been taking turns coming to offices one or two days a week to keep operations going.
According to the department, about 26 percent of American employees of the State Department overseas and about 42 percent stationed in the U.S. had been furloughed, according to the department. Most non-U.S. citizens working for the department abroad have still been working thanks to labor laws in their countries that prohibit unpaid furloughs, the department said.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-17/state-department-orders-staff-return-work-during-shutdown
Lawsuit Claims Sheila Jackson Lee Fired A Staffer To Cover Up A Rape
A former aide to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee alleges she was raped by a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation staffer in October 2015.
The staffer says she was fired once the congresswoman learned she planned to sue the Foundation, which Jackson Lee chairs.
The aide is suing Jackson Lee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
A former aide to Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas filed a civil suit against the lawmaker and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), alleging she was fired for threatening legal action against the Foundation relating to a sexual assault.
The complaint alleges Jackson Lee and the CBCF intentionally inflicted emotional distress, unlawfully interfered with contract, and violated the Congressional Accountability Act and Washington, D.C.’s human rights statute. It is the second time in recent years a former employee sued the congresswoman for her infamous employment practices.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 11 in Washington’s federal trial court and names both Jackson Lee’s office and the Foundation as defendants. The plaintiff, referred to in court filings as “Jane Doe,” is seeking damages.
Neither Jackson Lee nor the CBCF responded to requests for comment.
The plaintiff was allegedly assaulted Oct. 24, 2015 when she was a student at Howard University and an intern with the CBCF. By Doe’s telling of events, an intern coordinator named Damien Jones plied her with alcohol over dinner in a Washington-area Mexican restaurant before leading her back to his apartment, where he continually accosted the plaintiff with alcohol and marijuana.
Text messages indicate Doe solicited help from friends, but was too intoxicated to confirm her location.
Doe claims Jones digitally penetrated her and forced her to perform oral sex during their encounter. She says she awoke the following morning naked, with Jones straddling her body.
“Ms. Doe at no point consented to Mr. Jones touching her private areas, to performing oral sex or to engage in any other sexual contact, or to him removing her clothes,” the complaint reads.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/17/sheila-jackson-lee-rape-lawsuit/
Former Regional Director For Beto O'Rourke Accused Of Rape
The man who acted as former Congressman Beto O'Rourke's regional political director for O’Rourke’s Texas senatorial campaign against Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been accused of rape by a former intern for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
As Buzzfeed News reports, the young woman was 19 when the alleged rape by Damien Jones, who served as the CBCF’s intern coordinator, occurred in 2015. The woman initially eschewed legal action against Jones, although she reported the alleged rape to police and others, including Rep. Terri Sewell, her former boss. But later, while working for Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the chair of the board of CBCF, the woman changed her mind and wanted to initiate legal action, according to Buzzfeed. The woman says that in March 2018, she informed Jackson Lee’s chief of staff, Glenn Rushing, about the alleged rape and requested a meeting with Jackson Lee about it, but that never eventuated. She claims that several weeks after her request she was fired.
After being alerted to the Buzzfeed story, a spokesperson for the O’Rourke campaign emailed BuzzFeed News, “The Beto for Texas campaign was absolutely not aware of these allegations until today and no longer has a relationship with Damien Jones.”
As The Washington Free Beacon reports, adumbrating the complaint filed by the woman, who is identified as “Jane Doe”:
On Oct. 24, 2015, Jones invited Jane Doe to dinner, where she says he ordered a large quantity of drinks. She alleged that he then took her back to his home, poured more drinks, and that her memory became foggy about the rest of the night. She said she sent a series of text messages to a friend that night including, "Help," "I'm want t[sic] to go home," and "I'm ready to cry," and told the friend she was with the intern coordinator but did not know where she was.
The woman said she remembered Jones engaging in sexual activity with her, including forcing her to perform oral sex. In the complaint she said she did not consent to any sexual activity. The next morning, she said she woke up naked in Jones' bed "with his arms and legs around her," and left. She said she experienced pain in her vagina and elsewhere on her body.
The Free Beacon adds that Jane Doe claims that the same day of the alleged incident, she texted Jones asking what had transpired, and he answered, , "Nothing. You threw up everywhere. That's it." Reportedly instructing her to call him when she queried why she had been naked, he allegedly said he removed her clothes but denied any sexual encounter.
The Free Beacon notes that Jones has vacillated wildly as to how to see women. Here’s a tweet in which he speaks of respecting women, writing, “Stop using our women for their bodies and highlight their minds. Respect a womans right to celibacy and her right to say no. Be a real man.”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/42339/former-regional-director-beto-orourke-accused-rape-hank-berrien
Bruce Ohr Testimony Undercuts Adam Schiff’s Defense Of FBI
Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s testimony about his meetings with FBI officials regarding dossier author Christopher Steele severely undercuts claims made in 2018 by California Rep. Adam Schiff and his fellow Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
Ohr told lawmakers Aug. 28, 2018, he briefed top FBI officials Andrew McCabe and Lisa Page in early August 2016, just days after he met with Steele, a former British spy who was investigating then-candidate Donald Trump.
Ohr testified he told McCabe and Page about his interactions with Steele, who was working at the time for Fusion GPS, a Democrat-funded opposition research firm.
The FBI relied heavily on Steele’s unverified dossier to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Republicans have focused on the Ohrs’ link to the dossier and Steele.
In a memo dated Feb. 2, 2018, House Intelligence Republicans, led by then-Chairman Devin Nunes, asserted the FBI filed to disclose in their FISA applications Ohr’s wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS. They also noted in the so-called Nunes memo that the FISA applications do not reveal Steele’s anti-Trump bias. Ohr claimed Steele told him during a meeting Sept. 23, 2016, he was “desperate” that Trump not win election.
Ohr testified he had shared details of his contacts with Steele with the FBI prior to the election.
In addition to the meeting in early August 2016, Ohr met in late September 2016 or early the next month with Page, FBI counterintelligence deputy chief Peter Strzok, and Justice Department officials Bruce Swartz, Zainab Ahmad and Andrew Weissmann. Ahmad and Weissmann are currently working on the special counsel’s investigation.
The FBI obtained its first FISA against Page on Oct. 21, 2016, weeks after that meeting.
Ohr’s testimony conflicts with House Intelligence Democrats’ claim in a memo released Feb. 24, 2018, that served as a rebuttal to the Nunes memo.
That document sought to defend the FBI’s handling of the Steele dossier and its applications for the first FISA warrant.
Democrats asserted Ohr did not meet with the FBI until after the 2016 election and thus had no opportunity to tell the FBI his wife worked for Fusion GPS. He was also unable to relay that Steele had communicated anti-Trump bias to him.
“[Republicans] mischaracterize[s] Bruce Ohr’s role, overstates the significance of his interactions with Steele, and misleads about the timeframe of Ohr’s communication with the FBI,” the so-called Schiff memo reads.
Democrats claimed only in “late November 2016” Ohr informed the FBI of “his prior professional relationship with Steele and information that Steele shared with him.”
“This occurred weeks after the election and more than a month after the Court approved the initial FISA application,” reads the memo, which included the emphasis on “after.”
“The Majority’s reference to Bruce Ohr is misleading,” Democrats asserted.
The revelations in Ohr’s testimony create a bit of a dilemma for Schiff, who is chairman of the House Intelligence panel.
In a Feb. 6, 2018, interview with The Atlantic, Schiff remarked on “how flawed the Nunes memo is.”
https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/17/bruce-ohr-adam-schiff-dossier/
DRIVE THEM TO THE BORDER
"Get orders from my masters"